Chantal RIETDIJK, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Yi-Ling CHEN, University of Wyoming, United States
In 2011 Roy and Ong discussed in their book Worlding Cities how cities in developing countries hope to become a global city by referring to the experiences and practices of developed cities. Taipei can be considered an example of a city striving to become the major financial and trading center in East Asia. This includes the prioritisation of neoliberal urban development strategies, such as large-scale urban development plans and the creation of an attractive business climate. As capital materialises in the city, Taipei has one of the most commodified property markets in the world. Additionally, housing is culturally perceived as a private matter, a life achievement, and economically as a good investment opportunity. These factors contribute to Taipei’s homeownership rate of over 80 percent. This study follows the introduction of the social housing policy in Taipei from the early introduction of the concept by academics and social activists, until the (ongoing) implementation. When Taiwan started to envision social housing as an option to combat housing unaffordability, Amsterdam was an important reference city. Amsterdam, where 40% of the total housing stock is social housing, sparked Taiwan’s imagination. This study showcases how inter-city referencing is not only about ‘best case’ sharing or providing a template for implementation, but also how an imaginary for an alternative urban future can be created and used to initiate a reorganisation of urban development priorities. By framing social housing as an integral part of the global, modern city, the two priorities of a city as suggested by Peck and Theodore (2010) are addressed, namely providing a favourable image and solving a local persisting problem. This policy analysis aims to shine a different light on policy mobility as a 'copy and paste' practice and contribute to the debate on the increasing role of civil society movements on urban agenda setting.
Mots clés : social housing|housing movement|worlding |housing justice|neoliberalism
A103042CR